As the Executive Editor, I take full responsibility for this. But I also have an explanation.

Each day, the great staff here at Raw Story have to read and report on some pretty disheartening things — and some weeks are more disheartening than others. Today alone, here are 5 stories that disheartened me before 9 am:

So, yeah, by about mid-morning on a Friday, I want to watch a kitten do kitten-things, or a puppy do puppy-things, at least for a couple minutes, and I don’t feel bad about that. Often, so does at least one member of our team. And we figure our readers might, too.

The news is a serious business, but we at Raw Story try not to take ourselves too seriously. Hence: kitty videos.

And your reward for reading this, of course, is another video. Here’s a kitten attacking a much larger cat — a cat fight, if you will.

About the Author

Megan Carpentier is the executive editor of Raw Story. She previously served as an associate editor at Talking Points Memo; the editor of news and politics at Air America; an editor at Jezebel.com; and an associate editor at Wonkette. Her published works include pieces for the Washington Post, the Washington Independent, Ms Magazine, RH Reality Check, the Women's Media Center, On the Issues, the New York Press, Bitch and Women's eNews.